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Chester Pharmacy giving a gesture of thanks
Crews work Tuesday on inspecting and clearing the tracks at the scene of Saturday's Amtrak derailment near Joplin. Amtrak and BNSF Railway both say operations should go beck to fully normal traffic through the site of the crash today, with Amtrak's Empire Builder starting its full runs east and west today and BNSF operations back to normal in the area.
The area of train tracks near Joplin, damaged by the deadly derailment of an Amtrak train Saturday afternoon, has been repaired and service is being restored.
BNSF Public Affairs General Director Lena Kent said necessary repairs were completed early Tuesday morning and the line has since been reopened.
Amtrak Spokesperson Marc Magliari said the Empire Builder's westbound service from Chicago was restored Tuesday and a westbound train will be in today, while eastbound service will be restored today with the first train arriving in Montana Thursday.
The restoration of the tracks comes in the wake of the derailment Saturday that killed three people and injured dozens of others.
The response to assist led a local business to offer coffee and thanks.
Chester Pharmacy said in a Facebook post it would like to extend a small gesture of gratitude to everyone who responded to help.
"Whether you were a first responder, medical professional, law enforcement, volunteer or Good Samaritan - if you helped out in any way - please stop by the Liberty County Library this Thursday, Sept 30, for a free coffee bar drink in recognition of your efforts," the post said. "Every act of heroism, selflessness, and kindness that was displayed that day did not go unnoticed. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We couldn't be more proud to call this community and the Hi-Line home." The westbound Empire Builder that derailed just west of Joplin about 4 p.m. Saturday killed three people, left five in the hospital at least overnight and injured dozens of others.
Amtrak reported the train, with two engines and 10 cars, was carrying 141 people and had 16 Amtrak employees on board.
Eight of the cars derailed with some tipping over.
Husband and wife Donald Varnadoe, 74, and Marjorie Varnedoe, 72, of Georgia and Zachariah Schneider, 29, of Illinois were killed by injuries sustained in the derailment.
Emergency responders and personnel and volunteers from Liberty and the surrounding counties responded to help the people in the crash and to help secure the scene and direct traffic.
Amtrak sent an incident response team with emergency personnel and Amtrak leadership officials to the scene, created a family assistance center in Great Falls with family assistance liaisons to reach out to injured people and their families, and dispatched nurse case managers to help the people hospitalized.
A National Transportation Safety Board team documented necessary evidence for the scene before releasing it to BNSF earlier this week, and will continue their investigation in the weeks and moths ahead to find the probable cause of the derailment.
NTSB Vice Chair Bruce Landsberg said in a press conference Monday that a preliminary report should be completed within 30 days, and further reports will be issued as analysis continues and causes become more clear.
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Havre Daily News editor Tim Leeds contributed to this report.
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